IYA2009 Updates

Staunch IYA2009 supporter Upamanyu Moitra has released his Galilean Nights event overview. He writes about aspects such as publicity and the public's reaction, as well as details of the event itself. Says Upamanyu, "I credit the success of the event to Mum, Dad, Sister and Granny without whose help it would have been impossible for me to do this." IYA2009 also credits success to Upamanyu himself.

Issue 54 of UNESCO's World Heritage Review focuses on IYA2009 themes such as world heritage and astronomy. Topics include the heritage of Galileo, starlight reserves, recognising science and technology at important sites, Darwin and the Galapagos, besides many others.

The Amateur Astronomers Association of Kurdistan / Iraq (AAAK) has launched its Mobile Exhibition Project (MEP). Its main target is to allow students to look and learn about astronomy and the Universe through selected astrophotos. Topics include the history of astronomy, modern equipment, galaxies, nebulae, the Solar System and planets, AAAK activity shots, and AAAK honorary members around the world.

Beside increasing knowledge, this project also encourages students to be involved with astronomy. To this end, the initial exhibition was specially made for Faker Mergasuri Private High School students on 21 April 2010. It will now be transferred to another school in and outside Erbil city. This event was part of AAAK's Global Astronomy Month activities. Lunar Week was also celebrated, in particular on 20 April. The party began at 06:15 pm local time (15:15 UT) before the Sun set behind a layer of Cirrus clouds, which fortunately were generous enough to allow people to look through and see the Moon.

The registration fee for regular participants has now been fixed to 335,-€. It includes the abstract book, the volume of the conference proceedings, the welcome-reception, 8 coffee-breaks, 5 lunches, the closing dinner, and the half-day excursion to Munich.

2010 celebrates the 80th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto and marks the 1st anniversary of Venetia Burney Phair, the most influential 11 year-old in the history of astronomy who, died on 30th April 2009, aged 90. Venetia was a young schoolgirl living in Oxford, England in 1930, when she came up with the name Pluto for the newly discovered Planet X. As a tribute to Venetia’s extraordinary contribution and to its young discoverer, the American Clyde Tombaugh, Space Renaissance Education Chapter, in collaboration with Father Films, announce the launch of Naming X, a global online competition, to find the next influential student or school group with the creative and scientific talent to suggest a suitable name for a minor planet and a reason why. http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/905/

OSA Foundation To Donate Hundreds Of Telescopes To Milwaukee Students Through Galileoscope Challenge

The OSA Foundation announced recently the launch of a new program to donate hundreds of telescopes to students in the Milwaukee area, while educating them about science, optics and astronomy. The OSA Foundation, through a partnership with the Institute for the Transformation of Learning and a grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, will donate nearly 500 "Galileoscopes" as well as books and DVDs about Galileo Galilei and astronomy to six local middle, junior high and high schools as part of its program called the Galileoscope Challenge. http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/903/

Sidewalk Marathon in Erding, Germany

On Friday 24 April 2010, the town of Erding near Munich in Germany began a star party with an exhibition with the local fine art club on the topic "the Tower of Babel". Two hours later, EurAstro's President Jean-Luc Dighaye kicked off an incredible Astronomy Marathon. At around 16:00, his Coronado started duty in the middle of the "Schranneplatz", initiating a queue of people waiting in the line which disappeared only eight hours later as the exhausted organisers collapsed under the demand! http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/901/

International Astronautical Congress registration now open

Online registration, hotel accommodation, social events and tours booking forms for the 61st International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is now open. The early registration rate (and payment) deadline is 30 June 2010. The Congress will take place in Prague between 27 September and 1 October 2010. It is believed that the IAC will help to increase general awareness about space related capacities and plans of countries in this part of Europe and, at the same time, it will motivate and stimulate activity of new space generation there. The theme is “Space for Human benefit and exploration" . All relevant information can be found here: http://www.iac2010.cz/en/welcome

The Sky of our Grandparents

The project "The Sky of our Grandparents", coordinated by the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and the Institute for the Study of Traditional Literature (IELT) of the New University of Lisbon (Portugal), collected personal testimonies, stories, legends, songs, poetry and proverbs for a year and revisited the endangered sky, the bright sky that our ancestors saw, and the knowledge of astronomy that passed down from generation to generation. The Amazonian Museum in Brazil was an active partner of this project. Germano Afonso, an ethno astronomer working at the Amazonian Museum with students of several ethnic origins, has discovered amazing facts about the astronomical knowledge of the different populations of Amazonia. The film "Our Ancestors' Sky" unveils us some of these facts. http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources/multimedia/videos/detail/our_ancectors_sky/

Join in the Hubble Pop Culture Contest!

In honour of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s 20th anniversary, the European Space Agency (ESA) is proud to present the ESA “Hubble Pop Culture” competition — a free competition that calls for everyone who loves Hubble to find examples of it in popular culture. Have you seen a Hubble image on the cover of a CD? Has Hubble been used as inspiration for art? Let us know and you could win great prizes! http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/898/

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) featured tens of thousands of events worldwide. These were organised and implemented by many professionals, amateurs and volunteers who built IYA2009 into the most successful science education and public outreach project ever undertaken.

This symposium focuses on two key aspects of IYA2009: outreach in terms of communicating astronomy with the public, and the educational value of astronomy in attracting young people into science and technology studies at school and after. A huge number of events were planned across Europe, so contributors are invited to share their experiences. This symposium is an excellent opportunity to learn from each other and gather new ideas for events and projects beyond IYA2009.

Submissions are welcome in the following topics:

Reports from IYA2009 National Nodes, Organisational Nodes, Cornerstone Projects and Special Projects with an emphasis on the IYA2009 legacy

2010 celebrates the 80th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto and marks the 1st anniversary of Venetia Burney Phair, the most influential 11 year-old in the history of astronomy who, died on 30th April 2009, aged 90. Venetia was a young schoolgirl living in Oxford, England in 1930, when she came up with the name Pluto for the newly discovered Planet X.

In the only documentary about Venetia’s story made by Father Films and entitled Naming Pluto, Venetia recalls the moment she came up with the name. “My grandfather opened the paper and in it he read that a new planet had been discovered. He wondered what it should be called. We all wondered then I said, 'Why not call it Pluto'. And the whole thing stemmed from that.”

As a tribute to Venetia’s extraordinary contribution and to its young discoverer, the American Clyde Tombaugh, Space Renaissance Education Chapter, in collaboration with Father Films, announce the launch of Naming X, a global online competition, to find the next influential student or school group with the creative and scientific talent to suggest a suitable name for a minor planet and a reason why. The Committee for Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN) of the International Astronomical Union, the body responsible for the naming of minor planets and comets, is supporting this educational initiative and will consider the winning names for the naming of minor planets.

"We have a first class judging panel and with the support of CSBN we are very excited to see the results of an inspired global think tank. We may even repeat history," say organisers Thilina Heenatigala and Ginita Jimenez.

Judges for Naming X include Canadian astronomer and comet discoverer David Levy, Professor Ian Morison of Gresham University, who holds the oldest chair of Astronomy in the world also held by Christopher Wren and Marc W. Buie, collaborator on the New Horizons Mission to Pluto and staff scientist at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), one of the oldest and largest independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organisations in the United States. Educators, Carolina Odman, Julia Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Ivey-Duensing and Joan Chamberlin will also assist.

On Wednesday, April 28, 19.00 U.T., you can enjoy an online “Cosmic Concert”— a live piano solo performance organized in celebration of Global Astronomy Month (GAM2010). This unforgettable musical experience is composed by Giovanni Renzo and takes inspiration from astronomical events such as pulsars, black holes and transformation of star maps into musical score. Accompanying the music are videos by Valentina Romeo and Gianluca Masi.

Cosmic Depths - To say good bye to Global Astronomy Month, at the Virtual Telescope will run a very special event, traveling across space and time, leaving the Earth for the Moon, galaxies and the most distant objects in the Universe.

Would you like to feature your GAM event on GAM Members Blog? Send us a brief report with photos to info@gam-awb.org

Other Announcements

GAM Picture of the Day Have you got a great photo of your GAM event? Send it to gampod@gam-awb.org and we may choose it for the GAM Picture of the Day. Be sure to tell us who is in the photo, what's happening, where it is and when the photo was taken. And check out all the GAMPODs so far!

The GAM trailer -- 2-1/2 minutes of astronomy around the world accompanied by music -- is now available in Spanish and Romanian on the GAM Resources page.

The OSA Foundation announced recently the launch of a new program to donate hundreds of telescopes to students in the Milwaukee area, while educating them about science, optics and astronomy. The OSA Foundation, through a partnership with the Institute for the Transformation of Learning and a grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, will donate nearly 500 "Galileoscopes" as well as books and DVDs about Galileo Galilei and astronomy to six local middle, junior high and high schools as part of its program called the Galileoscope Challenge.

The Galileoscope is a high-quality, low-cost telescope kit developed for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 by a team of leading astronomers, optical engineers and science educators. The easy-to-assemble telescope has a 50-mm (2-inch) diameter, 25- to 50-power achromatic refractor, allowing students to gaze at the celestial wonders that Galileo Galilei first glimpsed 400 years ago.

The Galileoscope Challenge aims to distribute these scopes to students around the world, particularly those who are underserved. As part of this program, Optical Society (OSA) members Carlos Lopez-Mariscal, a post-doctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Yasaman Soudagar, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto, will be traveling to Milwaukee next week to educate the students receiving the scopes.

Lopez-Mariscal and Soudagar will teach the students about Galileo, optics and the Galileoscopes. Students will be able to keep the Galileoscopes, along with a local star-chart of their area so they can stargaze from home.

"The Galileoscope Challenge is a way for students to not only view marvels such as Saturn's rings and the four moons circling Jupiter, but it is also a way to get them excited about optics," said Meredith Smith, OSA Foundation director. "This program could very well influence who becomes our next generation of scientists."

The participating Milwaukee-area schools will be the Believers In Christ Christian Academy, the Milwaukee Renaissance Academy, the CEO Leadership Academy, the Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy, King's Academy Christian School, and the Darrell Lynn Hines Preparatory Academy of Excellence. The OSA Foundation hopes to expand the Galileoscope Challenge into an after-school and summer program, as well as repeat it at other schools during the year.

How pro-am cooperation is changing astronomy (JENAM2010 Special Session)

Friday, 10 September 2010

Lisbon, Portugal

Many amateur astronomers, after being involved with observing for a number of years, want to do something more. They would like to make a meaningful contribution to astronomy, either through public outreach, informal education, or research. The International Year of Astronomy 2009 has been the ultimate proof that such cooperation is possible, desirable and generate highly valuable outcomes. On the research side, astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can contribute to leading-edge knowledge. This is made possible by the availability of affordable, advanced equipment, especially CCD cameras and spectroscopes.

During this special session we will explore the current status of amateur and professional cooperation in astronomy and explore the possible future plans for a common platform to foster or even strengthen cooperation.

Additional note: The participants of this session might be interested in the Astrogalicia2010, an amateur astronomers meeting in Boimorto, Galicia (northern Spain/5-6 hours driving from Lisbon) between 10 -12 of September 2010: (http://astrogalicia.astromania.es/)